Chapter 38

from the tempest: Heb. מן הסערה. Count your hairs and I will give you as many answers. From the tempest with which you reproached Me (above 9:17), “He Who would crush me with a tempest,” I will answer you, as you will hear at the end of the chapter (verse 25), “Who has separated a place for the hair?” a shaft for every hair. Another explanation: With a tempest He afflicted him, and with a tempest He healed him, as is explained in Sifrei(?).

who gives dark counsel: Dark and foolish counsel. Another explanation: Who is this who gives dark counsel… without knowledge? Said the Holy One, blessed be He: Who is this who darkens counsel, frustrates words, i.e., with a multiplicity of words; for I wrote: “and that man was sincere and upright,” at the beginning of the Book, in order that My name should rest on Him, but he came and darkened and frustrated what I counseled with his many words. Whereupon Job replies to Him (below 42:3): “Who is this Who hides counsel?” Had I known Your counsel, I would not have spoken so much. Then the Holy One blessed be He, answers him, “Neither did Abraham know; yet he passed ten” [tests]. So I found.

3Now gird your loins like a man, and I will ask you and [you] tell Me.

גאֱזָר־נָ֣א כְגֶ֣בֶר חֲלָצֶ֑יךָ וְ֜אֶשְׁאָֽלְךָ֗ וְהֽוֹדִיעֵֽנִי:

Now gird your loins like a man: He intimated to him that he should arouse himself from his illness and his sufferings.

4Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell if you know understanding.

and broke: I made breaks in it [the sea] all around to keep it back within them, and they are its boundary, which it shall not pass, as in (Josh 7:5), “and they pursued them until the quarries (השברים) ” which are the ditches around the city.

11And said, 'Until here you may come but no further, and here [your strength] shall place your waves with pride.'

To grasp the corners of the earth: Moreover, in all your days, did you command [anyone] to grasp the corners of the earth like a man who grasps the corners of a garment and shakes it? So am I destined to grasp it [the earth] by its corners and shake the wicked [out of it]. Likewise, Scripture states (Isa. 31:3): “and the Lord shall turn His hand, and the helper shall stumble,” like a person who, holding something in his hand, drops it by inclining his hand.

24Which way is the light parted, [which way] does the eastern one spread it over the earth?

כדאֵי־זֶ֣ה הַ֖דֶּרֶךְ יֵחָ֣לֶק א֑וֹר יָפֵ֖ץ קָדִ֣ים עֲלֵי־אָֽרֶץ:

is the light parted: The irradiation of the sun, which diverges this way and that way like the horns of a hind.

the eastern one: The sun of the east.

25Who has separated a place for the hair and a way for the cloud of the thunderclaps?

כהמִֽי־פִלַּ֣ג לַשֶּׁ֣טֶף תְּעָלָ֑ה וְ֜דֶ֗רֶךְ לַֽחֲזִ֥יז קֹלֽוֹת:

Who has separated a place for the hair: Heb. לטשף. In Arabia, a hair is called שִׁיטְפָא. To every hair on the head I have given תְעָלָה, a separate shaft from which to draw sap. If two would draw from the same shaft, a person’s eyesight would fail. These have not been changed by Me, how then should I change אִיוֹב, Job, for אוֹיֵב, enemy? And this is the meaning of מן הסערה, from the hair. Another explanation: לַשֶטֶף a streaming raindrop. I set apart for each drop a hole in the clouds, for if they were to come down [together] from one opening, they would soften the earth and turn it into a mire.

and a way for the cloud of the thunderclaps: who parted? Every thunderclap has its own path, and if two of them would go along one path, the creatures would not be able to bear the sound.

26To rain on the earth where no man is; a desert in which there is no man.

כולְהַמְטִיר עַל־אֶ֣רֶץ לֹֽא־אִ֑ישׁ מִ֜דְבָּ֗ר לֹֽא־אָדָ֥ם בּֽוֹ:

27To sate darkness and desolation and to cause a source of grass to sprout.

waves of dew: Heb. אגלי, waves of גלי, dew, and the “aleph” is superfluous, as in (above 13:17), “and to my speech (ואחותי) in your ears.” The “aleph” is superfluous at the beginning of the word because it is a noun, and similarly (Ezek. 21:20), “the scream of (אבחת) the sword,” like נבוח, barking, the scream of the sword. Another explanation: is like אַגְנֵי, basins of dew. A type of basins, divisions in which the dew is deposited. The “lammed” is interchangeable with a “nun,” and so in the Book of Ezra (Neh. 13: 7), chamber (נִשְׁכָּה) like לִשְׁכָּה.

29From whose womb did the ice emerge, and the frost of the heaven-who bore it?

the chains of the Pleiades: [Tie] the chains of the Pleiades so that all its cold should not go forth and destroy the world with cold.

or loose the straps of Orion: to bring out its heat, to mitigate the cold of the Pleiades.

32Can you take out the constellations each in its time, and can you console Ayish for her children?

לבהֲתֹצִ֣יא מַזָּר֣וֹת בְּעִתּ֑וֹ וְ֜עַ֗יִשׁ עַל־בָּנֶ֥יהָ תַנְחֵֽם:

constellations: All the other constellations.

and… Ayish: The largest star in the Pleiades, to which many stars are attached. He took two stars from it to open the windows of the Deluge, and they were placed in the constellation of Aries and the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to restore them to her. Tanchuma.

33Do you know the ordinances of heaven; can you place his dominion upon the earth?

לגהֲיָדַעְתָּ חֻקּ֣וֹת שָׁמָ֑יִם אִם־תָּשִׂ֖ים מִשְׁטָר֣וֹ בָאָֽרֶץ:

his dominion: The dominion of the constellations appointed to bring upon the earth cold and heat, summer and winter.

34Can you lift up your voice to the cloud, or will an abundance of water cover you?

לדהֲתָרִ֣ים לָעָ֣ב קוֹלֶ֑ךָ וְֽשִׁפְעַת־מַ֥יִם תְּכַסֶּֽךָּ:

Can you lift up your voice to the cloud: to command it to tie up with the darkness of water so that an abundance of water cover you? That is the darkening of clouds, like (above 22:11), “or darkness so that you do not see.”

[or] will an abundance of water: from Heaven cover you by your commands.

35Will you send forth lightning bolts so that they should go and say to you, 'Here we are'?

לההַֽתְשַׁלַּ֣ח בְּרָקִ֣ים וְיֵלֵ֑כוּ וְיֹֽאמְר֖וּ לְךָ֣ הִנֵּֽנוּ:

and say to you: in the place where they were sent, ‘Here we are; we have performed our errand,’ because they need not return to their place to reply to their Sender, for the Shechinah is everywhere.

36Who placed wisdom in the inward parts or who gave the rooster understanding?